| KET to Lose Staff from Budget Cuts |
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KET to Lose Staff from Budget Cuts
The impact of a worsening economy and the governor’s budget has taken it’s toll at Kentucky Education Television. Executive Director Mac Wall announced that by July, 2008, up to 14 employees will be cut from KET.
Wall said that the basic services of KET would be maintained, but that several program areas would be reviewed for possible elimination.
No decisions have been made on what locally produced programs or specials might be cut or dialed back, Wall said.
It's not yet clear, either, how many employees might be affected this year.
KET and its sister agencies employ the equivalent of around 220 full-time employees. Between 25 and 30 are eligible to retire by the end of the year to take advantage of robust retirement benefits before they're cut by a plan aimed at reducing the state payroll.
The 14 who will leave by July 1 will be a mix of retirements and layoffs, Wall said.
The attrition is expected to save KET $1.8 million, but that's to come in addition to the state funding cut, Wall said. Under the budget, the state has cut its appropriations to KET by 12 percent to $13.24 million for the upcoming year, Wall said. KET's overall budget is $25.5 million.
This situation at KET mirrors the pending personnel crisis facing state government. With up to 20% to 40% of state workers able to retire, most state agencies have no plan in effect to regroup. Most of these anticipated new state retirees are valued employees with 20 to 30 years of training and experience. This will impact the senior management levels across Kentucky Executive Branch of government.
At KET, the employees eligible to retire "literally have had their careers here," Wall said.
"That takes out tremendous, not only capacity, but it takes out institutional memory and it takes out creative skills that literally have been developed over a career," he said. "You can't go into the marketplace and replace that ... nor do we know that the state's going to even let us replace them."
Wall declined to discuss what programs will most likely be affected.
For the time being, popular programs like Comment on Kentucky are safe. However, if the state budget is revisited before 2009, than more cuts will be necessary.
Besides money for staffing, KET will be looking to revamp much of its aging infrastructure of cameras, broadcasting towers, and studios.
KET's funding is broken down as: (1) 52 % state funding (2) 15 % Federal funding through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (3) 17 % Private giving (4) 16 % Grants, marketing and other revenue
With serious expected cuts in federal and state funding levels, KET must move toward a new business model.
Cutting into the traditional KET business model is the rapid New Media movement. Iphones, wireless internet, regional and local high speed broadband access, are new technologies that are redefining the video educational marketplace that KET has had almost no competition in for the past 30 years.
Competition is now a serious strategic factor for KET’s future.
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